Disintegrating cartridge belt



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 26, 1942 \Nilir'i d MQEJur g e s 5 Jan. 18, 1949. w. M. BURGESS 2,

DI'SINTEGRATING CARTRIDGE BELT I Filed Feb. 26, 1942 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 wil id mBw ga s Patented Jan. 18, 1949 UNITED- OFFICE DISINTEGRA'EING ()AR'IRIDGE.IBEIJL wilii'id M'. Bi'rrgess, Col'ro'es, N. YI

ApplioationrFebruary.26,\1942, Serial No. 432,411.

4 Glaiirisw (Cl. 89=-'-35'-') (Granted.-.under..thei-.act of;.March. 3', 1883, as amended April:;.'30;.1928;' 33711.1(). G. 757).

The invention described: herein may be 1 menufactured and used by or fore the Government for; governmental purposes: without :the paymenti-tome' of. 7 any: royalty thereonm This invention relates teams/integrating cartri-dge belt for feedingcartridges-tel an automatic:

guns

An object: of. the: invention.-.issto. provide an extremely flexible,- metallic link; belt from which."

The specific nature ofitheinvention: as.:well. as.-.

other objects. and. advantagesithereofi will clearly appear from-a description-eta: preferred embodi-t ment. as shown in. the accompanying drawings. in.

which i Fig. .1. is a. plan .view .ofa portion. of the.be1t.-

positioned in. the .feedchannel of a. gun,.-.parts.;,.

thereof being broken. away;

Fig. 2 is. a sideaelevationalview of, the feedchannel with. partsbrokenaway: to. show certain.

of. the. cartridges. being strippedlaterally.from. the. clips;

Fig. 3 isa left .end..eleva.tional..view of 'a. pair .of...

clips and a suspendedcartridge initherespective; guidel and. feed channels;

Fig. 4 is a side view of one of theiblanksfromi whichv aalink:v is formed:

Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation of a preferred form of the completedcartridge clip;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a clip for engaging the canneiureor extractinggrooveat-the base of'a cartridge case;

Fig. 7 is a plan view on a GliplfOIf engaging the neck end. of a cartridge;

bending.

pears as. represented in Fig. 5. In a preferred embodiment, theicentral portion of the body iii of. the-blank isbent. along two parallel lines l4"- soast-o ofiseta pair ofwings I E an amount slightly -inexcess of the-thickness of the blank, see Figs. 5,

Sand-8.- The. wings l5 preferably have a Width approximately equal-to that of the angularly disposed port-ion ofthebody l3 thereby rendering the wingsrsufliciently:rigid to resist any outward Spaced resilient fingers l iidepend from the ibodyrportioniliii By choice a-pair of notches il -lie intermediate the fingers lfi-so as to impart additional. resiliency to ,the. fingers.

Theinnerisurfaces. lBof thewings l5 and the fingers.l6-are arcuate to conformv to the cylindricaliperiphery of .a cartridge. The inner radiusofscurvaturer of. a. finger lfii is preferably slightly smallerithan thatof its adjacent wing i5 in order thatit may exert an. additional clenching action on thei.cylindricalportion.of a cartridge case. Each. wingzlfi. and its. corresponding finger Iii comprise. an .open ring. which is adaptedto detachably receive a cartridgev from. a direction below and perpendicular to the plane of the ears ll. Theiree ends. 19. and 20 respectively of a wing lELand a finger. l5. extend below their center of curyature to enable them to grips. cartridge below itsaxis thereby yieldingly holding it in posi ticn; The wings are. preferably slightly longer than the..fingers- IS.

A pairjoifspaced clips are arranged to suspend or; support a cartridge as shown in Figs. 1-3.

Since the diameter of a cartridge varies between the noseandthe base, the sizes of the open rings are not identicalon eachof the .clips which carry a projectile. To distinguish between the two types'of clipswhich are .to be employed, identifyingmarks such as. notches or tracers 2i (Figs. 1

andl'TYare employed on the ears llof those clips.

. whi'chi'engage thev neck..portion. of a cartridge.

Fig. 8 is an. end view of the clip shown inffiglgfig' and.

Fig. 9' is atop plan view. showing thex manner inwhich a plurality of linksiarez. seriallyintere connected. in the grooves at. the. bases oiia train of spaced cartridges, portions of the cartridges being shown in'z.pliantom. z

Referring to the drawingsdiyznumerals of.,ref.er.:--. once, a blank l0 having theiconfiguratiom shown in Fig; 4 is stamped out and its ears H are bent in opposite directions along the fold lines I 2. This produces a clip which in side elevation ap- This feature enables. aclip having a pair of plain earsas shownin Figs.,1 and .6, which isadapted to grasp ,thepbaise portion of .a shell, to be distinguishd from one which issnapped on the smaller neck end.

A pair. of adjoining. links. are coupled. together.

as'shown in-iFigs. 1 and 9. through the interme: diationef. av cartridge.22'. which forms a .pintle betweenthe links.. The flat side of a wing l5 on.

one...cli'.p...is placed .in..a contiguous relationship withi'thefiatssideof:awing 15. on the succeeding clip when both aressnappedonthe same cartridge. When-11a series .of; spaced links. are interconnected byzmeans ofzaplurality of cartridges in the manner. represented, anextremely flexible metallic. link;belinresulta.'- The. chain .oflinks bearing-the. distinguishing notches. 2i retains thenose por-.

tions of" the projectiles while the adjacent parallel chain engages the cannelures or extracting grooves 23 at the base ends'of the cartridges. By

gripping the shells at these points the chains are presented in proper spaced relationship with respect to their guide channels 24 and the shells are ultimately carried into proper alignment with the receiver 25 of the gun. The offset arrange ment of the wings l promotes the rapid. assembling of a uniform, parallel belt structure.

Figs. 1-3 illustrate diagrammatically the manner in which the cartridge belt feeds into the receiver 25 of an automatic weapon. The two chains of clips enter the guide channels ill from the left and carry the shells 22 into a feed passage 26. portions of the shells are engaged by a fixed cam 21 which has a declined face 28 that forces the cartridges vertically out of their positions between the wings l5 and the resilient fingers Hi. The free cartridges then move down a declined guideway 29 and are presented to the receiver 25. The clips, however, continue along the extended guide channels 2- 1 above the declined face 28 of the cam and drop out of the gun. Since the Wings I5 of each individual clip are offset and the clips are arranged in a series relationship in the guide-- ways as shown in Fig. 1, succeeding clips 33! are able to push their preceding clips 33 to the right and out of the gun. This arrangement prevents the cartridge-free clips from jamming in the guideways. In lieu of the offset pattern of the links, other means such as abutments, lugs, etc, (not shown) may be formed on the bodies of the links to push or expedite movement of those links which have been separated from their cartridges through the guide-channels 2t! and out of the gun.

It will be evident from the above description of the invention that there results a simple, flexible,

disintegrating type cartridge belt that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

I claim:

1. In a disintegrating belt link, a centrally disposed body portion, a pair of oppositely bent ears on the outer longitudinal edge of said body for positioning the link in a guideway, said ears being disposed substantially perpendicular to said body portion, a pair of wings extending from the ends of said body, a pair of spaced resilient fingers extending from said body intermediate said wings, said body having notches adjacent the bases of said fingers for increasing the length thereof, said wings and fingers having inner surfaces arranged to conform to and detachably engage the cylindrical portions of a pair of spaced cartridges, and said body having a centrally located angularly bent portion whereby one wing and finger are olfset and parallel to the other wing and finger.

2. In a disintegrating belt link, a centrally disposed body, a pair of oppositely bent ears on said body for positioning th link in a guideway, said ears being disposed substantially perpendicular to the body portion, substantially rigid wings at the end of said body, a pair of spaced resilient fingers extending from said body between said wings, said wings and fingers having curved inner edges arranged to conform to and detachably engage the cylindrical portions of a pair of spaced cartridges, the radius of curvature of said fingers being slight- 1y smaller than that of the wings. the length of said wings being greater than the length of said fingers to aid ingress of said cartridges, and said body having a centrally located angularly bent portion whereby one wing and finger are oifset the thickness of the link and parallel to the other Before reaching the receiver 25, the central wing and finger, so that each link will travel freely in a'guideway when overlapped by the wing of an adjacent link.

3. A link constituting a component of a disintegrating belt wherein parts of adj acent links are disposed in overlapped position and held in such position by the insertion of a cartridge through said overlapped parts, each link comprising, a substantially flat centrally located body portion, relatively small bent ears on said body for p0- sitioning the link in a guideway, rigid wings integral with the ends of the body and in the general plane thereof, said wings extending substantially perpendicular to the length of said body, a pair of spaced resilient fingers extending substantialy perpendicular to the length of said body and positioned intermediate said wings, said wings and fingers being arranged to form a pair of open rings having inner edges disposed to conform to and detachably engage the cylindrical portions of a pair of spaced cartridges, the open portions of the rings providing ingress and egress for said cartridges, the length of said wings being greater than the length of said fingers to form a cartridge guide-throat between two overlapped wings, notches in said body between said fingers at their bases to increase the resiliency of said fingers, the radius of curvature of said fingers being slightly smaller than that of the wings for gripping a cartridge, and. said body having a centrally bent portion on lines perpendicular to its length whereby each half of the said body with its wing and finger is slightly offset an amount equal to the thickness of a link and parallel to the other half of said body and its wing and finger so that the overlapped portions of each link will remain parallel in a guideway.

4. In a cartridge clip, a centrally disposed substantially fiat body portion, a pair of oppositely bent ears on one 1ongitudinal edge of said body portion for positioning the clip in a guideway, said ears being disposed at an angle with the plane of said body portion, a substantially rigid outwardly extending arcuate wing at each end of said body portion, a pair of spaced resilient arcuate fingers extending from said body portion between said wings, said Wings and fingers having inner edges arranged to conform to and detachably engage cylindrical portions of a pair of spaced parallel cartridges, said body having a centrally located angularly bent portion whereby a coacting wing and finger and the adjoining part of said body are offset and parallel to the oppositely extending Wing and finger.

WILFRID M. BURGESS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 386,535 Graham July 24, 1888 1,429,370 Putnam Sept. 19, 1922 1,692,828 Browning Nov. 20, 1928 2,022,685 Moore -1 Dec. 3, 1935 2,317,973 Balleisen May 4, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 37,918 Denmark Sept. 5, 1937 

